Looking To Add Storage Space To Our Network

[6Foot2]

We are running Virtual Machines for some applications where students need greater access to the system than I am willing to give them on the physical machines.

 

I will have to create 31 Virtual Machines at around 26 GB each [Total > 806 GB]

 

I have been quoted for two solutions [both NAS based]

 

One: Netgear Ready NAS: 4 TB: £ 1225.

 

Two: Western Digital: ShareSpace NAS: 4 TB: £ 380.

 

Both have Gigabit connectivity.

 

Only the Netgear is Rack mounted.

 

My question: I am inclined toward the Netgear solution. However am I concerned that I might be spending more than I need to on this. How would you approach this?

 

Must haves:

 

• Extra capacity to allow for the creation of more Virtual Machines
  
• NTFS on HDDs so that I can set permissions from the network

 

Not worried about:

 

• RAID
  
• Backup [Any data lost data will easily be re-created]

 

Domain controller Server OS: Windows Server 2008.

 

Thanks.

[jamesfed]

If you are running Hyper-V you could create a 'golden' image of whatever OS your students PCs are running then sysprep and attach differancing images to that - you could cut your disk space requirements down to much less than what you are asking for there.

 

(XenServer and VMWare does this to)

[6Foot2]

Thanks. However we do not currently run any of those technologies and I am not familiar with them. I will look into what would be involved in making this work.

 

I am still looking for input on the NAS issue though.

 

Thanks again.

[jamesfed]

Thanks. However we do not currently run any of those technologies and I am not familiar with them. I will look into what would be involved in making this work.

 

I am still looking for input on the NAS issue though.

 

Thanks again.

 

If your not using Hyper-V/Citrix XenServer/VMware what are you using to run your Virtual Machines?

[6Foot2]

If your not using Hyper-V/Citrix XenServer/VMware what are you using to run your Virtual Machines?

 

Microsoft Virtual PC:

 

http://gyazo.com/e61bd78138aee2e01cab1d7d4fe2433c.png

 

I had discounted this a being one of those technologies. Am I incorrect?

[jamesfed]

Sorry wasn't expecting Virtual PC to be used in such a way. You can still use it to create differancing images, heres a quick guide I found at the top of Google that could help solve your storage problems-

Creating Differencing Disks with Microsoft Virtual PC